„We are heading towards a war – whether PiS will suffer from it or Platforma will gain. PiS will suffer in some way because they won't be able to use President Trump's visit to Poland for public relations purposes. Platforma will be happy because it will cover up the sewage issue” - said Paweł Kukiz on TVN24's 'Kawa na ławę' program.

September in Polish politics is primarily about the continuation of the parliamentary campaign – PiS and Civic Coalition announced the presentation of their comprehensive programs for the first week of the month. The early days of September also mark the Economic Forum in Krynica and the likely awarding of the Man of the Year prize to Prime Minister Morawiecki.

Political September also includes the last sessions of the Sejm and Senate of this term, an update of Poland's rating by Fitch, the ZNP's decision regarding a teachers' strike, and debates on the rule of law, as well as President Andrzej Duda's participation in the general debate of the UN General Assembly.

*****

Pence's Visit. On September 1st and 2nd, United States Vice President Michael R. Pence and his wife will visit Poland, standing in for Donald Trump. On September 1st, Vice President Pence will participate in ceremonies in Warsaw commemorating the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. On September 2nd, he will meet with President Andrzej Duda; the agenda includes a one-on-one meeting and a press conference.

Electoral Roll Registration Deadline. Until midnight on September 3rd, electoral committees can submit lists of candidates for MPs and Senators, although PiS announced the registration of all its electoral lists at the end of August. On September 28th, free dissemination of electoral broadcasts on public radio and television channels, prepared by the electoral committees, will commence and continue until October 11th, the end of the campaign.

Economic Forum in Krynica. From September 3rd to 5th, the Economic Forum will take place in Krynica, this year's event being particularly significant due to the ongoing parliamentary campaign. The theme of this year's event is "Europe of Tomorrow. Strong, but how?". In the evening of the second day of the forum, the Man of the Year award ceremony will be held. According to unofficial information, this title is expected to be awarded to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki this year.

Civic Coalition's Comprehensive Program. "On September 3rd, we are registering the lists. [In the first week of September] we will present our comprehensive electoral program. We will be in Krynica [at the aforementioned Economic Forum]. Yes, there will be a lot of concrete proposals, addressing entrepreneurs, both smaller ones and those earning the least. Work must pay. There will be a lot about health," stated Grzegorz Schetyna at the end of August on TVN24's "Fakty po faktach."

Debate on the Rule of Law. The first debate on the rule of law with Frans Timmermans in the new European Parliament, following the elections, will take place on September 5th, RMF FM has reported. According to the station, the debate will last 1.5 hours and will address the issue of the troll-bot affair within the Ministry of Justice. On September 24th, the Advocate General of the EU Court of Justice will issue an opinion concerning questions referred to Luxembourg by the District Courts of Łódź and Warsaw. These questions relate to disciplinary proceedings against judges.

PiS's Program Convention. On September 7th – as we first reported on 300POLITYCE – PiS will hold its electoral convention in Lublin, where the ruling party will present its new program proposals. "Of course, there probably won't be such program 'battleships' or 'cruisers', because this is a civilizational-cultural shift, like our 500+ program. That's how it is in politics; social democrats in the West also built welfare states. Such state models function to this day. They democratized those societies, they ultimately led them in not the best direction, but not because those people had 500+ or a social program," said Deputy Prime Minister Gliński in an interview with 300POLITYKA. Most likely, on the same day or the day after, the PiSbus with Prime Minister Morawiecki will travel across Poland again. The date of Civic Coalition's main program convention is not yet known, but it is possible it will also be on September 7th.

Last Sejm and Senate Sessions. From September 11th to 13th, the last session of the Sejm of this term will take place. As we reported on 300POLITYCE, MPs will hear the report of the Amber Gold parliamentary investigation committee. According to the preliminary schedule, consideration of this point is planned for September 12th at 2:30 PM. Simultaneously, the agenda does not include a motion from PO-KO for a vote of no confidence in the Minister of Justice, Zbigniew Ziobro, but this could still be added before the session. During this session, the Sejm may also elect members of the commission on pedophilia. From September 25th to 27th, the last session of the Senate of this term will be held.

ZNP's Decision on Strike. In September, the ZNP will decide on the further course of action regarding the teachers' protest. The survey among teachers, originally planned from September 1st to 15th, has been extended by a week, until September 22nd. After this date, the presidium of the ZNP's main board will summarize the campaign and decide on the form of the protest, its organizational structure, and its timing.

PAD at the UN General Assembly General Debate. From September 21st to 26th, President Andrzej Duda and his wife will visit the United States, during which he will participate in the general debate of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. PAD also has a meeting with Polish ambassadors scheduled for September 3rd, and a visit to Sianów and Zieleniewo in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship on September 5th.

Update of Poland's Rating. On September 27th, Fitch – one of the three major rating agencies – has scheduled a review of Poland's rating. In March, the agency confirmed Poland's long-term foreign currency rating at "A-". Two more rating reviews for Poland will take place this year – by S&P on October 11th, the last day of the parliamentary campaign, and by Moody's.

Photo: *Sejm*

„The Polish state should not let this issue [reparations] go in any way. There are countries that demand this firmly. The issue of reparations should be resolved, especially since we hear in German government circles that they are ready to talk” - said Piotr Zgorzelski from PSL on TVN24's "Kawa na ławę" (Coffee on the Bench).

„I have noticed a change in rhetoric, because during the last term, there was a lot of talk about demanding reparations. It was loud about it even during the EP campaign. Now it has quieted down. We have nothing. The Prime Minister talks about compensation. The question is whether reparations, which are something hard, unambiguous, and compensation are the same. Compensation is much weaker. For 4 years, it has been talked about [reparations]. I see nothing wrong with discussing the topic” - said Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska from Civic Platform (PO) on „Kawa na ławę” on TVN24.

https://twitter.com/PremierRP/status/1168100257126912002

“50, or if counted slightly differently, almost 80 million people were consumed by that horrific armed conflict that began 80 years ago. 80, if we count not only those who were killed or murdered, but also those who died as a result of the war from hunger, disease, and destitution. 3% of the world's population at that time. Looking at Europe, one could say - a great European nation - its population suddenly disappeared within 6 years, leaving an empty land. It is difficult to even imagine today. This historical cataclysm, the largest and most devastating conflict in the history of mankind. We remember. We must remember. And that is why we are here today. I thank all of you, our distinguished guests from all over the world, for accepting our invitations, for coming to Warsaw, sometimes from the other side of the globe, in order to be here together, to show the world that we remember” – said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

„We remember and will remember with gratitude all those who fought, with gratitude for all those who gave their lives for the free world, for the defense of the world against Nazism, for the defense of the world against fascism, against terror, so that people could live freely, decide for themselves, and enjoy their happiness. Today, we honor and pay great tribute to all the victims of World War II, we bow our heads deeply and with gratitude kiss the hands of the combatants, our wonderful defenders of the homeland, who fought for our freedom and yours on all fronts of the then world” - said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

„Humanity has clearly not learned enough from that terrible lesson it has endured. Ethnic cleansings and genocides still occur in this world, and not so long ago. Now, in our contemporary times. We witnessed this not long ago in the countries of former Yugoslavia. We witnessed it in Rwanda. That is precisely why we remember, so that such events, such suffering, such bestiality, never happen in the world again. We must also remember this, and we must also act, drawing lessons from those events” – said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

“There is, finally, the fact that for some nations that war carried a special dimension, which left an entirely indelible mark and scar in many places, a scar that continuously resides in many souls, visible also in many locations, in unhealed architecture, in the beauty that was lost by cities destroyed during the war, which could not later be rebuilt according to the same patterns due to a lack of resources, due to the war trauma. The nation to which I belong, the Polish nation, is precisely one such nation” – said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

„It was here, on September 1, 1939, that World War II began with Nazi Germany's attack on the Polish military outpost at Westerplatte, but also simultaneously with an attack on a sleeping city, an attack on a city that was completely undefended and unprepared, with no military units, no military installations, where people were simply sleeping peacefully. The small Polish town of Wieluń. Utterly bombed, 85% destroyed by several air raids carried out on September 1, 1939, starting from 4:40 AM. 1200 people died practically immediately, and then this war, which for us was a constant struggle, in which we as a nation never surrendered, even though Poland disappeared from the map. First, Nazi Germany attacked us and pushed the Polish army eastward. And then, treacherously, on September 17, the Soviet Union attacked us, as it turned out, an ally of Nazi Germany. Polish troops found themselves caught in a vice, and everyone knew that we could not manage on our own” – said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

„It was a terrible Holocaust of Polish intelligence, of the Polish nation. It was the excision of the best sons from the Polish national fabric. From the national fabric in a broad sense, because I am thinking here of the citizens of the Polish state, strictly speaking of nationalities very diverse: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Ruthenians. All were officers of the Polish army. All were treated the same, all were bestially murdered” - said President Andrzej Duda about Katyn in Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

“The country vanished. German occupation arrived. The General Government was established, and the entire nation was subjected to absolute terror. No one knew what the day or hour would bring. Roundups were organized in the streets of cities, ordinary people were deported to concentration camps, to prisons, to forced labor in Germany, beaten, tortured, families were separated, children were taken away. Polish citizens of Jewish nationality were confined to ghettos, they were marked. They were treated like subhumans, they were starved, and finally, they were subjected to absolute, collective extermination. Primarily in concentration camps, in extermination camps, which Hitler's Germans also built on lands that were ethnically Polish, on which the Polish state was located. The most famous was the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, where 1 million 100 thousand Jews from all over Europe, primarily from Poland, 140 thousand Poles, 23 thousand Roma, 20 thousand prisoners of the Soviet Red Army, and 15 thousand people of various nationalities from all over occupied Europe were murdered” - said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

„One could say that Germany humiliated us, Poles, by leaving this death machine on our land. Today we are its custodians. We care for it so that it bears witness to the world, so that young people know what one human being could do to another, and what a totalitarian regime means, what cruelty means, and a lack of respect for the basic rights of another person, for their dignity” - said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

- There is no place in Europe where it is harder for me to speak and raise my voice. In my native German language, it is difficult for me to speak out loudly to you. Mr. President, I am here in humility and gratitude. You have invited me to commemorate those days together with you and your countrymen. 80 years ago, my homeland, Germany, attacked its neighbours, Poland, your homeland. It was my countrymen who waged a terrible war that claimed more than 50 million lives. Among them, very many Polish citizens. This war was a German crime. The history of this place from the first day of the war showed that Germany shelled Warsaw for many years. They lorded it over here for many years, entire city districts were razed to the ground, residents were deported, men, women, and children were murdered. Poland, its culture, its cities, its people – everything that lived here was to be destroyed – said the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

- As President of the Federal Republic of Germany, together with the Chancellor of Germany, we ask and address the Polish people. We will not forget this and we will remember the wounds inflicted upon Polish society, the suffering of Polish families, and we also admire the courage for the uprising, for the resistance. We will never forget - said the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on Warsaw's Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square during the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

„Warsaw experienced horror. Within 3 days, SS executioners murdered 50,000 people in Warsaw's Wola district. Unarmed people, not affiliated with any armed formations, not active in the armed underground, ordinary residents of Warsaw. In total, 200,000 civilians died during the Uprising. They are part of the terrible number of 80 million victims of World War II, including over 50 million civilian casualties” - said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the 80th anniversary commemorations of the outbreak of World War II.

„We are currently witnessing, even in Europe, a return of imperialist tendencies, attempts to change borders by force, aggression against other states, seizure of their lands, and enslavement of citizens. That lesson should teach us one thing. Perhaps there would have been no World War II at all if Western states had firmly opposed the Anschluss of Austria, if they had decisively dammed Hitler’s imperial ambitions, his maniacal visions, if they had strongly protested how Jews were treated in Germany even before World War II, if the international community had firmly and decisively stood up in defense of Czechoslovakia. Perhaps there would have been no invasion of Poland and no World War II at all if the leaders of that time had been resolute” - said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

"This is a great lesson for us, as leaders of Europe and the world today, as members of NATO and the EU. We cannot and must not overlook such actions. There must be sanctions, there must be decisive steps. It must be evident that any military aggression will be met with a firm, decisive, powerful response. These are the challenges of our times" - said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

„I appeal to you. Business as usual and turning a blind eye is not a recipe for peace. It is a simple way to embolden aggressive personalities. It is a simple way to de facto give permission for further attacks. You know that this is happening. In 2008, Georgia, in 2014, Ukraine. To this day, borders are being shifted, occupation, prisoners, military provocations. We must be decisive, because it is our responsibility to our societies and to the societies of Europe and the world, that armed aggression never happens again, that the tragedy of World War II is never repeated” - said President Andrzej Duda on Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square in the capital during the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

„America loves Poland, America loves Poles. Today – as the Vice President of the United States of America – it is my great honor to stand here on behalf of Americans in a Poland that is free, strong, and secure. Poland's history is the story of a nation that never lost hope, was never broken, and never forgot who it is. Today, in the very heart of Warsaw, standing here before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, we have gathered to bear witness to the courage of a great nation,” said the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, at Piłsudski Square in Warsaw during the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. 

Marshal Elżbieta Witek, along with Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble, participated in Berlin in the commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II.

- The citizens of a state that, as Hitler triumphed, "collapsed and was swept away," were subjected to a drastic occupation, which entailed the complete degradation and elimination of Polish citizens. The occupation and extermination policy claimed the lives of 6 million Polish citizens - said the Marshal of the Sejm.

- The Polish-German phenomenon is the great convergence, understanding, and reconciliation of our societies. I think with genuine satisfaction about the great work done by the Polish-German Youth Exchange, which has been operating for 28 years, and many of its participants, already in their adult lives, promote the values that have united us - emphasized Marshal Witek.

https://twitter.com/KancelariaSejmu/status/1168125430114783233

https://twitter.com/KancelariaSejmu/status/1168134796146630656